Taxidermists mount animal head skins over molded animal head mannikins, such as deer head mannikins, and secure the result to a wall plaque or the like for use as a trophy. The mannikins are typically molded of light-weight polyurethane foam material. Molds and molding methods for producing taxidermy animal head mannikins are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,432,919, 4,511,522, and 4,515,340 issued to John R. Rinehart, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. These patents disclose molds and molding methods for producing taxidermy animal head mannikins complete with eyes and eye-surrounding anatomy as part of the mannikin when it comes out of the mold. Thus, the taxidermist need not spend time and skill positioning or mounting the eyes, or filling in and contouring around the eyes to provide correct anatomical eye-surrounding features. The mannikin molds disclosed in these patents also include reference indicia in the cavity surfaces of the mold near the edge of the eye socket recesses. These reference indicia may be used to align an artificial eyepiece to be inserted in the eye socket recess in the correct position. These patents also disclose the use of a removable (cleanable) adhesive to hold the eyepiece in the correct position on the mold during the molding operation. The adhesive is removable (cleanable) from the front portion of the eyepiece after the molding operation is complete and the completed mannikin is removed from the mold.
Another method of placing an eyepiece in an animal head mannikin is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,683 to Powell, which discloses an eyepiece having a circular flange with two notches which mate with two diametrically opposed lugs on edges of the mold eye socket recess to lock the eyepiece into position. U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,209, also to Powell, discloses a method of holding an eyepiece in position on the mold during the molding process by applying an adhesive onto the mold eye socket which selectively releases from the eye, but remains adhered to the mold, when the parts of the mold are separated to remove the mannikin. U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,412 to Johnson discloses a method for locating an eyepiece in correct position in the mannikin mold using a locator piece attached to the front of the eyepiece with a removable adhesive. The locator piece is positioned in a corresponding locator socket in the mold eye socket. The disclosure of this patent is also hereby incorporated by reference.
It is known in the art of taxidermy mannikin fabrication to apply a wax coating to the front surface of the artificial eyepiece before it is positioned in the eye socket cavity of the mannikin mold. The wax coating helps to release the eyepiece surface from the mold when the mannikin is removed from the mold in which it is formed. The adhesive applied to hold the eyepiece in place during the molding operation will not adhere as strongly to a wax coated eyepiece as to an uncoated eyepiece. The wax coating also helps protect the front surface of the eyepiece form being scratched or otherwise damaged from contact with the mannikin mold surface. Application and removal of a wax coating to and from the eyepiece is, however, a messy and time consuming process.